Chioma Umeha

Chioma Umeha When women and girls have access to contraception, fewer babies and mothers die. Around the world, millions of women can’t get the contraception they want. Numerous studies show that the ability to plan pregnancy is directly and unequivocally linked to lower maternal mortality, lower infant and under-five mortality, lower mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and a whole host of improved health indicators. Here is just one example: when a woman spaces her births by at least three years, her newborn baby is twice as likely to reach its first birthday. However, negative reports on sexual reproductive health (SRH) outcomes in the country shows that there is need to improve access to family planning information and services for Nigerian adolescents. The 2014 World Health Organisation’s (WHO) report and 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) presented the worrisome statistics of Nigerian young women whose lives are cut short due to reproductive healt

Chioma Umeha A common adage in Igbo says that the cry of a baby during birth brings joy to the mother and ultimately compensates for her pains and endurance through the nine months of pregnancy. But when it becomes the opposite, it throws the community and the family into perpetual sadness. This was the situation some communities in Oyo found themselves a year ago until the state government, community leaders, UNICEF and other partners through the Accelerated Action for Impact (AAI) Initiative moved in to ensure that no child dies from preventable reasons. Previously, statistics has it that in Nigeria, Oyo State is among the 15 states contributing to nearly 50 per cent newborn deaths in Nigeria. Sadly too, the state was third highest contributor to newborn mortality rate in absolute numbers in the South West. According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, (MICS) 2016/2017, Oyo shows undesirable 42 per cent of newborn mortality rate. However, the AAI Initiative

Dr. Prosper Okonkwo, CEO of APIN Public Health Initiatives, Prof. Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health, Dr. Jay Osi Samuels, Director of Laboratory Services of APIN, and other management staff of the organisation during a visit to the Minister in build-up to the presentation of the book, Turning the Tide: AIDS in Nigeria. Chioma Umeha Since its first reported case in 1999, the Human Immuno Deficiency Virus, the causative agent of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), remained a major public health concern for both government and Nigerians. The scourge which attacks the natural immune systems, living the body at risk of all sorts of life-threatening diseases, has claimed many lives and left many children orphan. At the forefront of fighting the scourge in the country is a non-governmental organisation, the AIDS Prevention Initiative for Nigeria (APIN). APIN began in Nigeria in 2001 as a project of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, the United States of Ameri

Chioma Umeha L-R: Rotn Sanjeev Tandon, Past President, Rotary Club of Lagos Island, with Rotn Lalwani Manu, a Trustee, Geeta Ashram Foundation and his colleague, Rotn Anil Gopwani, encouraging a beneficiary of the Free Eye Cataract Surgical Operation sponsored by the Rotary Club Lagos Island District 9110 Nigeria, Rotary International and Geeta Ashram Foundation, Lekki, Lagos at the event held General Hospital, Lagos Island, recently. Plans have now been concluded for the 5th edition of the Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers’ Expo 2019 (NPME 2019). The NPME which is the biggest International Pharma Manufacturing Exhibition in Central and West Africa is scheduled to hold from August 28-29, 2019 at New Haven, Oba Akinjobi Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. NPME is the definitive Pharma event and is known to attract close to 200 exhibiting companies from 6 countries and nearly 10,000 pharma and related sectors’ trade professionals from across the region. The Theme of this

Chioma Umeha To guarantee improved and accessible healthcare SYNLAB, formerly Pathcare Laboratories, has relocated its Victoria Island office to Adetokunbo Ademola Street, the same area in Lagos. The company, renowned for high-quality clinical laboratory testing, resumed service at the new address on 1 April 2019. Dr. Tolulope Adewole, Executive Director, Operations, SYNLAB Nigeria, said “Our beautiful new location is more spacious with more than double the previous phlebotomy room capacity, reducing waiting time for our clients. The new location offers better parking facilities, while the modern interior and improved customer care is poised for a better customer experience.” He urged residents and those who work on the Island to “come and visit us at our new home and experience healthcare as it should be, and not what we know it as.” SYNLAB presently offers access to more than 5,000 tests, including some of the most advanced genetic tests. The company prides itself

Chioma Umeha As the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) celebrates its 25th anniversary of service, pharmacists have tasked the agency to tackle the challenges of non-adherence to designated ports of entries for drugs. Speaking for the pharmacists was Samuel Adekola, the National Chairman, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) who said the agency should ensure strict compliance with entries of drugs on only designated ports – both airports and seaports, to curb falsified medicines distribution in the country. Adekola while speaking to DAILY INDEPENDENT, stressed that NAFDAC should not rest on its oars following its silver jubilee, that the agency which marked its silver jubilee should not relent in its effort to win the fake drugs war. The ACPN boss also called on Prof. Moji Adeyeye, NAFDAC Director-General, to look at the continued sales of drugs in places where they are prohibited including buses and other means of tr

Expired, substandard and falsified medical products before and during destruction weekend by National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in Ogun State Chioma Umeha The National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) recorded what it considers as a major breakthrough weekend, for destroying 189 truckloads of expired, substandard and falsified medical products valued at N2.7 billion at the Oke-diya dumpsite in Sagamu, Ogun State. Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General of the agency told journalists during the destruction exercise that 189 trucks conveyed the unsafe and unwholesome drugs – the highest ever recorded by NAFDAC – to the destruction venue. Some of the products destroyed were either seized by NAFDAC from manufacturers, importers and distributors or voluntarily handed over to the agency by compliant companies, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and Trade Unions. According to Prof Adeyeye, Tramadol worth N283.5 mill

Drugs. Inset: Mazi Ohubuanwa Chioma Umeha To end tuberculosis, TB, epidemic by 2030 the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has urged the federal government to take the advantage of the availability of community Pharmacies from every part of the country to fully implement the Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) programme. Pharm Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, the PSN President, made the call in a statement to mark this year’s World Tuberculosis Day at the weekend while commenting on its theme, ‘It’s time to end TB.’ Ohuabunwa pledged that the society would ensure that Nigerians with the disease are provided proper care with simplified medication that would guarantee compliance. He reasoned that if ending TB Epidemic by 2030 is one of the health targets of the sustainable development goals, “Then prevention, diagnosis and early treatment with first-line TB drugs should be given all the seriousness it requires.” The PSN President specifically promised that the pharmaceutical body

A media field trip weekend, to Iwo Road Primary Health Centre (PHC), Ibadan North East to one of the Accelerate Action For Impact (AAI) site on improving health outcomes for children, supported by United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) findings shows that there are improvements in antenatal care, immunisation, skilled birth delivery among others through the support of the Community Development Association. Chioma Umeha With improved nutrition, including proper breastfeeding practices, immunisation and health delivery system, experts have said that high infant and neo-natal deaths in the country would be curbed. The experts, who spoke at a just concluded media dialogue in Ibadan, with the theme ‘Improving Health Outcomes for Children in Oyo State through Accelerated Action for Impact,’ noted that the method is yielding positive health outcomes among children Oyo state. One of them, Dr Adebola Hassan, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) Health Specialist, Akure Field

Chioma Umeha Awareness and proper understanding about family planning has been recognised to reduce maternal death among young women of reproductive age between 15 and 49. Data on Sexual Reproductive Health outcomes in Nigeria highlights the importance of focusing on adolescents. At 576 maternal dea th per 1,000 live births, Nigeria accounts for 14 percent of the global burden of maternal mortality (NDHS 2013/WHO 2014). Global evidence shows that young girls bear a higher burden of maternal mortality and morbidity. Data shows that the average age at sexual debut is roughly 15 years of age among adolescent mothers in Nigeria. (NDHS 2003, 2008, 2013). The National adolescent fertility rate in Nigeria is 122 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 years. In the North Western States, it is as high as 171 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 years. To stem this, the government of Lagos State with support from partners and other donor agencies has put in pl